


Whispers

by Heartensoul



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartensoul/pseuds/Heartensoul
Summary: They would whisper as she passed them, and she often resisted the urge to glare.
Kudos: 6





	Whispers

Whispers  
Rating: G  
Notes: Takes place when Sakura starts learning under Tsunade.

\---

When she stepped outside the safety of the Hokage's dwelling, she watched their eyes glance at her as she made her way down the street. They would whisper as she passed them, and she often resisted the urge to glare.

She had thought upon being taken in as Tsunade's apprentice that some gossip might spread. She had prepared herself for cruel words of inadequacy, words she planned to make them swallow as she trained harder every day to prove herself.

The words they whispered instead were as surprising as they were wounding. She was the one they dubbed as 'left behind'--never acknowledged even in the gossip about herself, merely an extension of the two longest-running gossip material--though it was unkind of her to refer to them that way.

It was hard to swallow the idea of Naruto and Sasuke enduring the villagers’ stares and rumors all their life. It was even more difficult to acknowledge that she had been part of the gossip exchange at one time. She accepted that she had changed in that as she had in so many other ways. And it was those other ways that made their speculations of her more tolerable.

Despite the slight sting, it felt good to be an equal to her teammates in the eyes of the villagers, even if only in the form of gossip for now. One day soon, she would be able to prove the other ways she needed to be acknowledged with them.

She was no longer walking behind them; they were walking in the same direction now, just taking different paths.


End file.
